Response to Advice: BW film/dev combo in the 100 & 400 range?

Idan, the emulsion/developer combination is only half the equasion, the other half is the paper/paper developer combination. At this point, you're basically asking us to give you opinions about buying a nice car - 100 people will give you 100 different answers based on their own personal preferences.

Ultimately the only way you are going to find YOUR personal favorite is by methodically trying emulsion/developer combinations then paper/dev combinations. I started with 400 ASA emulsions (in 120/220) and found I liked both HP5+ and TX in PMK. Then I went through the paper/dev combination with both and narrowed my choices to a cold toned fiber paper - Forte Polycontrast V, a neutral tone fiber paper - Bergger, and a warm toned fiber paper - Agfa MC111. I tried these 3 papers in several developers: Photograper's Formulary 130 and BW65, and Sprint. For my industrial landscapes (rail, heavy industry, etc) I use TX in PMK (and rarely Rodinal) and print on the Forte Polycontrast V - just a real nice rendition. For portraits, I use HP5+ in PMK and print on the Agfa MC111 in the PF130 (nice creamy warm tone rendition). So I have several tools at my disposal.

As for personal exposure index, there are several places you can get the information on how to do this. Barry Thornton's website has a nice description that you might look at. My personal EI's for TX is 200-250 and HP5+ 250-320 both in PMK. I haven't done a careful analysis of any other films yet so I generally swag it 1/3 to 2/3 stop over exposure for PMK. My next choice of film will be Ilford's PanF in PMK. I developed a roll this summer at the beach and the tonal range was just marvelous. So I will probably choose the PanF for my low speed emulsion and then use either the TX or HP5+ as my fast emulsions with perhaps a little effort to try the Ilford 3200 film as a high end alternative.

Not sure if that helps you narrow your choice. I found that the testing was a real joy but I still have a long ways to go before I feel I've mastered a particular film/dev/paper/dev combo. If no one has mentioned this yet, Ansel Adams book, "The Negative" is a classic text to help you understand this process.

John

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